The Lee County School District is trying to sell — cheap — three buildings that it vacated five years ago.

Although the district is not using a real estate agent, officials have slashed asking prices of three facilities it left behind in 2007 when administrative functions were consolidated into one new building.

“It’s priced favorably for the market at this time,” said broker Jim Boback of Boback Commercial Group.

In 2007, officials opened the $42.7 million Lee County Public Education Center, a move that brought central administrators and staff under one roof for the first time in many years. The consolidation left vacant the Dr. James A. Adams Public Education Center, the district’s former headquarters, along with three ancillary buildings in and around downtown Fort Myers: Hipps Complex (formerly student services); Gwynne Building (student assignment); and R&R Building (technology repair).

The Gwynne Building is a historical structure and not for sale.

Upkeep costs on the four surplus facilities continue to mount. During the past three years, the district has spent $466,500 on utilities, $74,351 on maintenance and renovations, $9,072 on lawn maintenance and $463 on pest control, records show. Expenditures from 2007-08 and 2008-09 were not available because Florida law requires school systems to maintain financial data for only three years.

School board Chairwoman Mary Fischer would rather see money spent repairing school structures than facilities that ultimately will become someone else’s property.

“It would be great for somebody to buy these properties so we’re not having to put more money into depreciated buildings,” Fischer said.

The district’s cost of carrying vacant buildings is high, but Lee doesn’t have as many bills as a typical homeowner trying to sell a vacant house. Lee avoids paying property taxes because it is tax-exempt, and there are no mortgage payments because facilities were paid off many years ago.

(Page 2 of 2)

The three surplus buildings for sale aren’t abandoned, though. The district still uses R&R for storage, while area law enforcement agencies occasionally stage training exercises inside Adams and the Police Athletic League uses Hipps for a boxing program.

The fourth extra facility, Gwynne, was built in 1911, and has been home to public education since. It has hosted students from kindergarten through college, administrative offices, student assignment and now is home to the Foundation for Lee County Public Schools, which operates there free of charge.

Marshall Bower, executive director of the foundation, said the agreement potentially saves the nonprofit organization thousands of dollars each month.

“It means money we would have spent on rent, we’re able to give right back to serve the teachers and students,” Bower said.

Boback, who is not representing the district, said Lee schools probably would have better luck connecting with potential buyers if they used a listing agent. The district didn’t renew an agent’s contract after the facilities failed to immediately sell in 1997. For-sale signs posted at each location direct prospective buyers to call Dawn Huff, the school district’s community development planner.

Lee schools have received offers for the Adams and Hipps buildings, according to district spokesman Joe Donzelli, but couldn’t come to a final agreement with prospective buyers. It also entertained other proposals at half of the appraised values, offers that were not accepted. Current asking prices reflect the most recent appraisals.

Fischer plans to ask Superintendent Joseph Burke to explore strategies to sell the facilities. The price is right, Boback says, but the Adams building is a “sizable complex in a marginal location,” so the potential pool of buyers is limited.

One unsuccessful strategy often used during the economic downturn, Boback said, was for sellers to reduce their asking prices based on current values rather than aggressively pricing properties to sell fast. As it stands now, the price per square foot of the vacant facilities is fair.